Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog)

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Sean Shares Two Circular Tattoos

As we patiently wait for this forsaken winter to end and for the city's tattoos to come out of hiding, my new friend Sean and I were talking about the site recently and he offered up his two tattoos for us here on the site.

First up is this piece on his upper left arm:

The tattoo reads "Blackbird singing in the dead of night...take these sunken eyes and learn to see... all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free ...". This is, for those who don't know, a fragment of lyrics from The Beatles classic "Blackbird."

Sean explains how he came by this, his first tattoo:

"I had my Blackbird tattoo done in honor of my dad whom like myself, loved The Beatles. At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, it started from a dream I had that included the lyrics, 'All you need is love' in the shape of a peace sign. When I woke up, I tried sketching what I dreamt about (I still have the sketch that I drew with my finger on my phone), but it came out looking like shit. However, I was inspired to get a tattoo if I could perfect the design. After playing around with some of the lyrics to Instant Karma! (not the Beatles, but still Lennon!), Blackbird and All You Need Is Love, I settled on Blackbird, since that was supposedly one of my dad's favorites. Anyway, I literally spent months working on the design with my best friend, Darryll Brandwine who is great with graphic art, as he owns his own architecture firm in Las Vegas (D3 Design Studios). During this time, I stumbled upon a 'John Lennon' font which we were able to use in Photoshop. I liked this touch a lot because I felt it gave the tattoo a more 'authentic' feel. After a few different revisions, I brought it into Will [Sheldon at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg]. Soon after he applied the template to my shoulder, I went out to my wife, Madeline to see how she liked it. Her eyes said it all, which meant a lot since while she was supportive of my decision, she was not really a big tattoo fan. I went back in, Will finished it up and I was very happy with my decision to get my first tattoo."

Sean also has this piece, which I think is really cool, on his inner right wrist:

I'll let Sean describe this Ensō, or Zen circle, tattoo, as well:

"Religion was never something that I felt very comfortable with. However, as I got older, I began to see the value of having one. Coincidentally, over the past few years, a friend of mine has been urging me to try meditation as well as learn about some of the Buddhist teachings. I took to it almost immediately, as it didn't seem as 'restrictive' and 'invasive' as the religions I had come to know. I still joke around with people and tell them that you're not going to see me walking around in a red robe and a shaved head, but Buddhism has taught me a lot and I continue to read books and watch videos on it. Somewhere along the way, I came across the 'Zen Circle' and it seemed like it would make for a simple, nice-looking tattoo. Naturally, people always ask what does it mean and why did I get it. They have no idea what it is or even if it's complete. Like most people who have tattoos, I got it because I like what it represents (strength and enlightenment, for starters) and it IS done...haha. Anyway, Bella [Kozyreva] from Brooklyn Made [in Bay Ridge] did this one and while I envisioned it being smaller on my wrist, I really like how it came out."

Thanks to Sean for sharing his circular tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! Will we see more from him? Sean's final words on the subject were, "I'd say I am done with tattoos, but I said that after my first one too."

I'd add, every tattoo is your last tattoo, until you get the next one!

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Erica, Rats and the Chrysler Building

A little over a year ago, we featured this tattoo on Erica, a musician, who also happens to be my wife's cousin.

Erica is a member of Poof Pony, and we recently caught their gig at Fat Baby on the Lower East Side.

After their set, we were kicking back and enjoying some beer, catching up, and Erica showed us her newest tattoo:

This tattoo, sitting on Erica's upper right arm, "is a combination of King Kong and Banksy," she told me, adding "I prefer the Chrysler Building to the Empire State."

The tattoo was inked by Nick Caruso from Bound for Glory Tattoo.

Thanks to Erica for sharing her cool new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! Be sure to check out Poof Pony's website here and listen to their music!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sean's Two Sides: Good and Evil

Here we are in February 2014, and we're finishing off with our last encounter from '13. Back in September, on Broad Street in Manhattan, I met Sean, who shared some of his tattoos with us:

Sean explained that these nautical stars and swallows represent good and evil:

"I did the stars on Adobe Illustrator – I took just basically an outline of regular ones and I did a little distressing to them and then decided to turn the colors around and not have full shadings on them, just like silhouettes of shadings. I thought it was a nice move and that’s when my artist said Okay I’ll do those."

His artist is Rich Fie at R&D Tattooing in Queens. He credited the devil and angel swallows to an artist named Lulu.

He also has this piece on his forearm:

Sean has been a musician for twenty-five years, playing drums, guitar, saxophone and harmonica. This tattoo represents his love of music.

Thanks to Sean for sharing his tattoos with us on Tattoosday!

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Friday, January 31, 2014

Mike Bakaty, Rest in Peace

I learned last night of the passing of a legendary NYC tattoo artist, Mike Bakaty. Our friends over at Needles & Sins informed us of the sad news, with this touching remembrance .

I never met Mike, whose Fineline Tattoo NYC is a great shop, thanks to his talent and hard work, along with that of his son Mehai. But, as you would imagine, a couple of his tattoos have appeared on the site over the years. Interestingly, both examples I found were for the Tattooed Poets Project:

That was from Ethan Hom's contribution last year (here) and this:

which is courtesy of Christine Hamm, in 2010 (original post here).

You can see more examples of some of Mike's work on the Fineline website here but I encourage you to head over to Needles & Sins to get a true appreciation of the importance of Mike Bakaty and his impact on the tattoo community.

It reminds you that every time you see a tattoo, it's often not just a work of art on the skin, but a reflection of the hard work of an artist, with a soul and a life, and that they truly do live on in this world through their work, even after they have passed on to the nect.

Rest in Peace, Mike.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

John and the Savannah Bird Girl

Long time readers of Tattoosday may remember I used to find a lot of contributors in Penn Station, across the street from where I worked for many years. This past September, I started a new job downtown, on Broad Street, and this tattoo was the first one I found for the site in my new neighborhood:

This tattoo is on the back of John's calf, and was inked by Lisa from Whatever Tattoo on St. Marks Place in Manhattan.

He explained it was the Savannah Bird Girl, most familiar to many people as the statue on the cover of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:

John explained, "I loved the book and I just fell in love with the statue.”

Thanks John for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Two Birds for Tuesday, Celebrating Ten Years in New York City

Back in September, I met Daniel on Broad Street in downtown Manhattan. It was his New York City pigeon that first grabbed my eye:

Daniel explained, “It’s my ten-years-in-New York Tattoo. It’s my New York bird."

Representing his country of birth, he added, "I have a Mexican bird on the other side:”

That is the quetzal.

Every once in a while, I am fortunate enough to stumble on the work of simply amazing artists. Both of these phenomenal tattoos were done by the talented Regino Gonzales from Invisible NYC. Work from Regino has appeared previously on Tattoosday here, here, here, and here.

Thanks to Daniel for sharing his two awesome bird tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Karin Shares a Tattoo Fit for a Seamstress

I was leaving Governor's Island after the NYC Poetry Festival last summer, when I spotted Karin sitting down waiting for the ferry back to Brooklyn.

I asked her about her tattoo:

Karin explained that she is a seamstress, which goes a long way to explaining this tattoo. Initially, she told me, "it was just the thread and Maggie added the needle and the hand."

Maggie Cho Brophy was the tattoo artist from Gnostic Tattoo in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who added the parts that gave this seamstress's tattoo a whole new dimension.

Thanks to Karin for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!